Cutting Trees
by Nezumi1
Summary: One year after the book, the Curtises get a new neighbor next door. A lot about Steve, bc he doesn't have many fics to his name! Hopefully I pull this off better than the typical girl-next-door-fics ::Ch. 8 Uploaded - After 1 whole year!::
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: Anyone ya know, Hinton owns. Anyone ya don't, I do. So there! ^_^  
  
Cutting Trees: Chapter One  
  
Steve looked out the window of the Curtis household. -It's raining in Oklahoma, folks,- he thought. -And when it rains it pours, baby.- A loud voice broke his thoughts with a cackle, "Oh, lookie there boys! I win again."  
  
"Damn it!" Steve yelled. "You'se a goddamn cheater that's how you'se winning!"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are too!"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are too!"  
  
Soda and Pony leaned back folding their arms across their chests watching the two go at it. Neither of them were surprised when Steve threw a punch and Two-Bit got himself all worked up over that and the two hauled ass out into the front lawn, that wasn't really a lawn, and kept a hitting away at each other. Until all four noticed doubtfully brown eyes surveying them. Looking up from socking a laughing Two-Bit, who's true cards. rather colors, were beginning to show up in his sleeves, Steve saw a girl with dark brown eyes and jet black hair. Her skin sure as hell wasn't pale but it wasn't dark either and those soulful eyes were just surveying them, with one eyebrow cocked like Two-Bit but slightly more dubious.  
  
"Uh. hello there," Steve stumbled. "I don't live here."  
  
Soda cracked up, while Pony laughed a little quieter. Ponyboy Curtis didn't laugh as much as he had previously. Seeing your best friend die, and then the only older brother figure your best friend had, you just didn't go back to being your normal self again. He'd had six months to brood over the loss of Johnny and Dally, but their faces still hadn't gone away; even if the sound of their voices were beginning to fade. He couldn't remember what Dally's voice sounded like exactly anymore and it was killing him, slowing but surely the past that he couldn't remember was eating away at Pony's soul.  
  
"Hello there, beyoo-tee-ful," Two-Bit licked his lips from the ground. What he wouldn't do to have a little ass sometimes.  
  
She rolled her eyes took a drag from her cigarette in the pouring down rain and responded, "Shove it up your -sweetheart,- I only have an interesting in men."  
  
Sodapop was hooting by now, and Two-Bit had gone from red straight to a deep purple.  
  
Pony approached the small fence, "Just moving in?"  
  
"Whatever gave you that idea?" she inquired sarcastically.  
  
"I dunno -sugar,- maybe it was the boxes," Steve laid in his own fair bit of sarcasm. "And whatever shoved some stick up your tight ass I'd like to know because you sure as hell haven't lived here as long as these boys."  
  
She shrugged, "Well, -sweetheart-, it doesn't surprise me that came out of you considering the only reason I'm looking is you were beating the shit out of some guy I have no clue who he is, but looked like he was your friend."  
  
"That ain't the-" Ponyboy cut Steve off by stepping in front of his line of vision with the girl across the fence. "Hey Pony! Get outta the way!"  
  
"Ponyboy Curtis," he said cordially extending his hand over the fence. "Me and my older brothers live over there. Don't pay attention to Steve, he just tags along with Soda."  
  
"It's the other way around Buster Brown!" Steve yelled and socked Two-Bit again just to spite the new chick on the other side of the fence. That was one mean hell cat the Curtises had just gotten for a new neighbor.  
  
Pony shot him a look, "My parents had some weird fondness for odd names. The one rolling with laughter is Sodapop."  
  
Her confusion at each she took his extended hand, "Don't worry, Ponyboy, by parents named me Cedar-so it ain't much better. Cedar Rain to be exact."  
  
"Cedarrain or Cedar then Rain?" Pony asked suspiciously.  
  
"Cedar then Rain," she smiled.  
  
"Where'd ya move from?"  
  
"Idaho," she smiled. Pony raised his eyebrows. That was a helluva a long way. "In Coeur D'Alene, ya know? On the border? By Spokane?"  
  
"I know where Coeur D'Alene is," he replied. "In Kootenai County ain't it? Way up in the panhandle?" She nodded. "I ain't as dumb as the rest of the idiots 'round here."  
  
Two-Bit got up enough vehemence to yell, "Pony, why dontcha shut up? She's too old for ya!" Soda was still rolling around in the rain, laughing and laughing and laughing. Steve grumbled something about shutting up then gave Soda a like sock in the stomach too. He'd had a bad day and Two-Bit taking his money wasn't helping. Those cards were stacked, he knew and so did the rest of the world. so why did they keep letting Two-Bit deal?  
  
"Acting a lot more mature than the rest of the hooligans down in the mud."  
  
"You sound like a soc sister!" Two-Bit called. Steve got him again, unfortunately in the exact spot he'd been hitting him for the last five times. "Hey man! That one hurt I'll give your fucking money back already! So what? Its was just a lil' cheating fun."  
  
"Uh huh. You try working and see what it does to you," Steve snorted, ripping his money back out of Two-Bit's pockets with water dripping down his face. "I'm soaked."  
  
"That's what happens in the rain dumbass," Two-Bit retorted.  
  
"Look who's talking."  
  
"You're in a bad mood," Two-Bit commented. "You'll usually at least let me get 20 bucks before you start socking me."  
  
"So this is a daily occurrence?" Cedar Rain inquired of Ponyboy at the fence. When he nodded, she sighed. "And I thought I'd escaped the Stone Age."  
  
Ponyboy grinned and Soda wasn't sorry she moved in. No one could seem to muster a true smile out of the kid these days, "The cheater's Two-Bit and the one sockin' 'im's Steve."  
  
"Some interesting friends you got Ponyboy," she winked. "An' between you and me you're a very. nice looking guy." She clicked her tongue winked and gave Steve another look of disgust before heading off into the house.  
  
Somewhere Soda found a baseball and they were tossing it around the street when Steve suddenly turned to the new neighbor's house and made an estranged face. "That don't sound like English to me."  
  
"You probably just can't hear it good," Soda commented nonchalantly.  
  
"Naw, man, it seriously don't sound like English."  
  
Soda groaned, as did Ponyboy, but Two-Bit seemed kinda puzzling. "You two ain't the experience we've had with her tongue."  
  
"Or you wish you had with her tongue," Soda commented nudging Steve who cracked a crooked grin. Steve's grins were always crooked as if he were hiding something that no one else knew, but he couldn't completely smile because he had other stuff on his mind. Namely bills to pay.  
  
"Yeah, I could use me a little sugar," Two-Bit replied as more unhappy noises from the home increased. "You know its real pitiful the world we live in."  
  
"It is," Pony agreed bitterly. All three of them looked right at him.  
  
Ponyboy Curtis was a boy grown up to a man in the night when Johnny died and Dallas Winston were both shot by the fuzz. And slowly, Two-Bit could see a little bit of the old Dally creeping into his kid brother that really wasn't his brother, only in essence. Frankly, it scared the be-Jeezus out of him. Pony was a nice kid, he got good grades then Two-Bit started figuring. Dally had been smart, real smart; he knew how to break a guy he knew how to get around the law. Dally just didn't use it in school he used it on the street.  
  
*  
  
"Hey guess what big bro?" Soda teased Darry. "We got ourselves a new neighbor in the old Jones place."  
  
"Oh yeah?"  
  
"Yeah! She's a real piece of hotcakes too," Soda whistled. "Mmmhmm. don't see the likes of them features around here often. She was dark and yet she wasn't, ya know? All we got's a buncha bleach blondes running around with too much eye make-up!"  
  
"Oh yeah? And just how did you run into this chick?"  
  
Pony looked up from his book, "Well, we didn't actually run into her. Steve chases Two-Bit out 'cuz Two-Bit was cheating again, and Steve was in a bad mood. again. and she made a couple of remarks to the when Steve said some weird stuff. I ain't ever heard him be so uncomfortable. Probably went home and smoked a whole goddamn pack. Anyway, so I went over 'n talked to her. No harm in bein' friendly. Plus chicks cook better 'n Soda."  
  
"Hey there buddy!" Soda jumped up and began tickling his younger brother. Some kids didn't like being in the middle, sure it had its horrible moments, but nothing beat being able to not have all the responsibilities and still being able to patronize someone. even if he didn't do a whole lot of patronizing.  
  
"She's a bitch," Steve informed Darry.  
  
"Well everyone's a bitch or an asshole with -you- today," Two-Bit smirked. "But I agree." The three of the still talking boys heard a loud yell and a crash in the next house over and the same girl that had them in a tizzy slam out her door, holding her cheek. She wrapped her arms around herself, and just when they thought she'd cry her lip curled into a snicker and then she disappeared from sight.  
  
Steve looked at his best friend wrestling with Pony, dully stating, "Well if one thing's for sure, she keeps doing that-she's liable to get jumped."  
  
.-*-.  
  
A.N. Review, critique, praise, flame. what's your pleasure? LOL! Anyway, I can't get the damn italics to work anymore and I don't know why, they've always worked before. . grr! So sorry about the annoying symbols. R & R! ^_^ 


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Same as the last one.  
  
  
  
Cutting Trees: Chapter Two  
  
  
  
"Since you're bumming around here," Soda started then hit with the trash. "You take it out."  
  
"Damn man! This reeks!"  
  
"No shit. It's been in for almost a week," Soda laughed. "And I'm starting dinner, so ya want food or not?"  
  
"What you make isn't called food..." Steve drawled. Lighting a cigarette, he trooped out the backdoor into the alley with the stink bomb of all stink bombs. What the hell could three brothers fit in this little black plastic bag? It smelled like a dump. -Probably because we all live in one,- he thought sourly. Lifting the tin lid, he looked in, thinking momentarily how they all should get out of this Ritz, that wasn't really Ritz, but ended up just dropping the trash inside.  
  
From the house just over he heard what he'd called as a young kid "unhappy noises". And the things coming out of that house were the worse kind. Breaking dishes, not just some but a lot then a long stint of yelling, including many profanities, before another crash and bang. He heard a lot of this kinda crap at his house; that's why he was over here, but apparently he couldn't escape it. Yelling, screaming, and a loud crack followed by the momentary silence of shock, even if it was the hundredth time, then a low vow of revenge before an angry voice followed a sobbing girl out the door. Steve's mouth twitched, he shouldn't be watching this. To anyone it was personal, he knew that all too well, but... he knew the feeling. It was almost comforting to know it wasn't just him and he couldn't just -let- her cry... "Ya know me 'n my old man fight a lot too."  
  
She started, "Were you listening to that?"  
  
"Nope. Just taking out the garbage," he lifted the lid, to prove his story, then with his free hand took a long drag on his cancer stick. All that meant was he overheard, he just wasn't purposely listening. Only someone very sick in his head would want to listen to someone get beaten down.  
  
She bit her lip and wiped her eyes clear of her tears. Steve's mouth twitched again. "Whaddya speak?"  
  
"Whaddya mean?" she sniffed, approaching the low chain fence hesitantly.  
  
He set the lid to the garbage can back down and leaned on the fence. "I mean... my house yell sin English but you weren't yelling in English. There were a couple of English words, but-"  
  
"Navajo," she replied. "We yell in Navajo mostly.  
  
"Then its real interestin' you come to Oklahoma," he laughed thinking about what little he actually paid attention to in school about the state's history. It used to be used to keep Indians 'til just a while ago. "You're part Indian in Oklahoma, Navajo from Coeur D'Alene, Idaho - which Pony told me where that was - even though the Navajo's from the Southwest - four corners, descendants of the Anasazi right?"  
  
"Yeah," she cocked a jet black eyebrow, with a slight smile forming at her lips.  
  
In-between two drags he nipped her chin with his fingers like he would have done to any -sweet- girl down and out. But this was no ordinary, sweet as sugar girl; it was Cedar Rain who'd bit his head off from the get go. "C'mon in , it'll be warmer inside." He gestured to the house invitationally.  
  
"I thought you didn't live here," she smirked.  
  
"I invite myself to occasionally," he replied. She grinned as Ponyboy came out, shouted an invitation himself; she accepted. Just when Steve was about to offer a hand to help her over the fence, she simply jumped over herself and landed right in from of him. Smiling at the awkward situation, she winked and took his cig. He crooked a smile and followed the rear trotting up to Ponyboy Curtis and greeting him cordially. "Ya got too much sass, -sugar-."  
  
"No, I'm only made of spice," she informed him and blew a puff of smoke in his face, following Pony into the house.  
  
-She's got too much of that goddamn spice if you ask me,- Steve thought sourly. -And here I am comfortin' her. Ha! Steve you're an idiot.- Soda was taking another swig of a beer when he entered the house. "You get drunk your brother will shoot me," Steve warned.  
  
Soda started laughing, "Won't that be quaint for me? With no one to complain how bad my food is!"  
  
"What happened to Ponyboy and the hot-mouthed chick?"  
  
"I dunno," Soda shrugged. "They disappeared."  
  
"What a cradle-robber," Steve drawled, popping the top off of another cheap bottle of beer and collapsing beside Two-Bit. "Hey sticky fingers, whatcha get today?"  
  
Two-Bit looked up from Mighty Mouse, chocolate cake, his cig, and a tequila and shrugged, "Not much. Just a couple sticks of gum, small stuff today bucko. So Ponyboy done and got him a girl, eh? That's crazy man. At least it might lighten him up a little."  
  
"For your information I'm no one's girl."  
  
"Hey sister, we're just'a notin' that you two disappear into Soda and Pon's room," Two-Bit replied shrugging his shoulder. "The kids hardly fifteen years old, so we'se just a'commentin'..."  
  
"That's all you're good at," Soda replied from behind the counter. "And ya don't even know, chicks get lookin' old fast now-a-days."  
  
"I'm only sixteen," she replied. "And I still wasn't cradle-robbing, because at least he's not out here getting drunk."  
  
Steve set his bottle down, fuming. Didn't this broad beat all? She was cynical and she was using up his cig. His! And this wasn't her hang out, she was intruding. So what he'd invited her in? She was a guest. A guest!  
  
His thoughts were cut off abruptly by a deep voice from the front door, "Yeah, getting drunk? You little shits are too young to be drinking anyway, and Soda you get as drunk as I see your buddy here then you're mince meat. Furthermore, who the hell is she? And what's burning?"  
  
"Um, hey Darry!" Soda smiled. "Uh, that's probably my roasting chicken - "  
  
"The only chicken that's roasting right now is you. That chicken is -burnt- ."  
  
Two-Bit and Steve cracked up laughing. "That lil' spit-fire over there is Miz Cedar Rain, fancy her parents having a thing for weird names like yours. Same one we toldya about the other day, the one Ponyboy's been hitting on," Two-Bit gave plenty of his two cents in and Ponyboy who'd just come in the room, sincerely thought about socking Two-Bit right where Steve always did just to make sure it hurt.  
  
"Me 'n Steve invited her in, Darry," Ponyboy told his older brother with little emotion in his voice, not the same lightness he used with the other guys. The girl turned around and cocked an eyebrow.  
  
"We're just showin' neighborly hospitality," Steve said sarcastically.  
  
"You don't live here," Darry pointed out and looked at the girl. She seemed harmless enough; a little short but he just bit his tongue and looked in the oven. "You are confiscated from cooking buddy," he pointed at Soda who pointed at himself as if there were someone standing behind him. Darry just shook his head and smiled. It was hard to be mad at Soda.  
  
He looked at the girl again. Not many girls were after his youngest kid brother, they were all after Soda. When he looked again, the two were gone. He'd have to keep an eye on her, he just didn't like the way she held herself up. She was suspicious and he didn't like her around a boy as soft as Pony. And she reminded him of someone, he wasn't exactly sure who, but he knew he didn't like it.  
  
.-*-.  
  
A.N. Please, please, please review! Okay. Over and out now! 


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: No. I refuse to post another one after this. I don't own them. Well I own HER but that's it. Comprende? Bueno!  
  
  
  
Cutting Trees: Chapter Three  
  
  
  
Darry tapped his fingers on the counter. Cedar Rain. The other boys kept saying she was after Ponyboy, but he wasn't so sure. In public, they exuded no longing glances or otherwise often associated with love, but the two disappeared into his room often. He didn't know what to make of it. Ponyboy was fifteen years old and she was sixteen; it was a close age difference, nothing huge. Plus, it didn't really matter. And Pony really liked her company - he smiled when he saw her coming. Not since their parents died had he seen a face like that on Ponyboy Curtis.  
  
Soda and Steve were goofing off in the living room, and Darry's paranoia increased. But what if they were doing something? Pony may be smart, but he didn't have an inch of sense. The front door rang, signaling the pizza guy and Soda trampled Steve to get to it. Sighing Darry opened the door to Pony and Soda's room, half-expecting to see his kid brother sucking face with a raven head. Instead he found them leaned over a piece of paper and something that looked like a drawing. He stared at the stacks of typewritten papers, crossed out with pen and scrawled over. "What the hell?" he inquired. He'd never been much for his brother's scribbling, he was more for it than Soda, but personally Darry would rather be doing something physical.  
  
The two started. "Cedar's helpin' me write a book, Dart. I know it don't seem right, but that's all we'se doing. Honest!"  
  
Darry surveyed the scene and picked up a thick stack with a rubber band around it, "How come you didn't just tell me you were writing?"  
  
"Do I have to tell you when I breathe?" he snorted. "Please don't tell the other guys. they'll laugh!"  
  
"Fine, fine," Darry grumbled, relieved. "Grub's here."  
  
Ponyboy shot out the door like a get and serenely the girl got up, stacking the papers and beginning to walk out the bedroom door. Darry caught her wrist and she began to tuck her long black hair behind her tanned ear. She froze solid. "Whatever you're doing to get my kid brother smiling again, keep doing it." She nodded, and he hesitated with the next words coming out of his mouth were foreign for so long. "Thanks."  
  
"You're welcome," she replied, flashing a smile of her own. He had to smile too.  
  
He shifted uncomfortably, even if he was an "adult" he wasn't sure how to say the next part. "Look, if you ever need somewhere to get out of the house to... our door's usually unlocked and if it ain't band on a window. Understand?"  
  
She nodded, smiled grimly and he let her go. She left him wanting a love life, not necessarily a love life with Cedar, but holding even her wrist made him ache. How long had it been since he'd held a woman in his arms and kissed her 'til she nearly swooned? So long he was hallucination about a sixteen year old. Or just dream. Too long. -Once Pony grows up,- he thought. -Once Ponyboy's going places.-  
  
*  
  
Steve made a face as the girl he disliked most next to Evie plunked down between him and Sodapop. Of course. She was after both young brothers. Darry entered the living from the hallway, looking dazed for the first time in a few years. -Scratch that,- Steve thought. -All three.-  
  
"Hey Cee!" Soda greeted her cordially. "Pepperoni? Canadian bacon? Or all the fixin's?"  
  
"Canadian bacon," she responded. Two-Bit was missing, probably not for long. He smelled food a couple continents away.  
  
Steve grumbled, reaching for a bottle of Coke when he settled back into it. she took his cigarette and took a long drag, then put it back in his mouth. He fumed, "Would ya quit doing that?!"  
  
"It'll kill you someday," she smirked. "I know you'd wanna share that joy with me."  
  
"Damn, you really know how to get on a man's nerves!"  
  
"No only yours," Soda responded shoving a whole piece of pizza in his mouth. His next sentence garbled with the food.  
  
Steve started alternating his beer and his Coke. She snorted, "Why don't ya just mix 'em together?"  
  
He looked at her and grinned menacingly, "Ya know -suga'- you'se just full of bright ideas tonight."  
  
"How would you know? You've never had one."  
  
Oh... he wanted to sock her. He wanted to sock her so bad his joints ached. Just break that whole 'no hitting chicks' rule just once. Only once. She did everything she could to annoy him - he knew she did.  
  
Looking at the beer in his hand, only because she knew it would send over the edge. She grabbed it took a swig and fit it snug back into his hand. His face turned a bright shade of crimson red, resembling slightly a tomato which was a hard feat for Steve. What'd he think she had? Cooties! "What?" she inquired, as if she were innocent.  
  
Slamming his food down he stalked down the hall, his fist clench. She smiled coyly. And she'd be sweet as sugar when he came back. She knew that would get him.  
  
Steve hit Pony and Soda's bathroom counter. Why did she have to be such a... bitch? Take his cig, take his beer, just butt her little buns in- between him and Soda! Yeah that little butt that waggled around like a dog, enticing Curtises. Eventually they'd pit against each other. And it'd be her fault. Then again, maybe she was just Ponyboy's friend, maybe Soda was just being Soda, and maybe Darry just was relieved to have a female that could cook around. No. She had to be more devious than that. Didn't she?  
  
Re-entering the living room, he found she had her own cigarette in her mouth and was laughing along with Ponyboy and Darry started to twirl Soda, who was turning green, around. Sitting down in his previous spot, she hardly noticed his re-entrance. For that he was almost sad. But she turned to him finally, "Do they do this often?"  
  
"Only when Darry's in a good mood."  
  
She smiled, then stood and went into the kitchen. "Hey can you get me another Coke?" Ponyboy yelled.  
  
"Sure. Steve, ya want another one too?"  
  
He raised his eyebrows. "Um sure..." he replied, slightly dazed. Nice? Now? She'd just been being so sassy he could have ripped her head off! And -now- she was being polite?  
  
She hand Pony a Coke and then him one, before plunking down beside Steve with her own. Until a loud yell stopped Darry and Soda, and the gang turned, "CEDAR!"  
  
And that was when Cedar whimpered curling in a tight little ball, and rolled off the couch.  
  
.-*-.  
  
A.N. You like? Yes, I was slightly stuck and I pictured the Curtis house in a neighborhood slightly like in Spiderman. so no sue me! I just borrowed and adapted to my uses! ^_^ Okay, review, review! Ja ne! -Nezie-  
  
P.S. Sorry for any typos, I just scribbled this out because I had to! ^_^ 


	4. Chapter Four

Cutting Trees: Chapter Four  
  
Another clear, yet slurred yell in the night made Soda jump as well, "CEDAR!" She whimpered from the floor and Ponyboy expected her to begin rocking back and forth soon.  
  
She was covering her ears, curled in a tight ball, on the Curtis' hard wood flooring, ready to cry. Steps were coming up the short as Steve gathered her up in his arms and put her behind the arm of the old ratty couch, out of sight of the door. "Stay here," he told her quietly. She just nodded, her fingers twitching apprehensively.  
  
"Can I help you?" Steve jerked open in a loud voice before the man could get to it. The tone he used generally with people he didn't like. The guy was white, Steve noted. Completely white. And it reminded him of his old man - and Steve really did not like his old man.  
  
"I'm lookin' for Cedar Rain," the man said, stumbling slightly. "She in there?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you sure? Lemme come look."  
  
"I think not," Darry said from behind him. "This is my house. And she ain't here, left over five hours ago."  
  
"Yeah!" Two-Bit's voice affirmed behind the old guy. "I seen her." -Don't say over at anyone's, she pleaded silently wit him. "Over at Buck's." -Damn.- She thought as he stumbled away.  
  
*  
  
Steve crooked Cedar's chin up, when leaning on the fridge door one day. "Where'd ya get that bruise?" he inquired, as she stepped back from him, flinching at his touch. She'd hid it well with make-up, he remarked to himself. But in the end, it hadn't been good enough for him; he looked for things like that on other people. Begging and pleading not to be alone. "Cedar," he demanded when there was no response.  
  
Looking him right in the eye, she knew there was no way she was going to lie her way out of this one. He knew, but somehow she had to say it to affirm his belief. And as their eyes locked, it scared her and she knew her lips wouldn't utter anything but the truth. "My step-dad."  
  
"Your step-dad? Where's your mom?"  
  
"Dead."  
  
"Your step-dad hit you?"  
  
"That's what I basically just said," she snappe3d and turned back to the cutting board. She'd volunteered her skills, seeing as Soda kept burning things - furthermore, Darry kept inviting her over more and more with the food. Yup. They were in desperate need of a woman's touch one could say.  
  
He caught her arm, the same one that had the small cutting night and raised it to his eye level. He didn't trust. And he bet she would have gutted him right there in the Curtis kitchen if she could have. "Where do you get all this goddamn rudeness for me? I try to be nice."  
  
"Yeah. Well I go for winners only."  
  
"Ya sound like a fucking Soc."  
  
"I sound like I wanna get outta this dump."  
  
"Are you saying I don't have dreams, sister? 'Cuz if you are-"  
  
"I'm saying I'm shooting higher than a gas station."  
  
She felt his grip flew as instinct before his scowl turned into a full-out sneer. "You think you're so good don't you? Don't you?" he demanded and her eyes widened in terror. He loosened his grip slightly, well maybe he didn't want to scare her shitless...  
  
"Better than... than you!" she sputtered. Silently she cursed herself, was that the best she could come up with anymore? She knew how to make most boys quake in their shoes with her words. But not Steve she just couldn't get Steve.  
  
"Is that the best you can come up with?" he snickered, mirroring her thoughts. "People like you are the kind that should be killed."  
  
"People like you are the one's who are too cowardly to step up and work for something!" she sneered at his clenched fist. "C'mon! Hit me!"  
  
"You actually want to be hit."  
  
"I can see it brooding in your eyes, Steve. Just think if you killed me, you'd actually make your first contribution to the world."  
  
"The world probably would hardly bat an eye at the death of a little slut."  
  
Something cold and hard met Steve's cheek. She dropped the knife she had in the hand of the wrist he was holding. She looked shocked that she had slapped him - horrified actually; as if she couldn't believe she'd unleashed such a horrible power over someone else. But she quickly she regained her confident self, "Never call me a slut."  
  
"Ya ain't so tough as you like to make out to be," he commented wiping blood from his lip. That -hurt.- She slapped hard for a girl.  
  
"Get something to put on that or you'll swell like a balloon," she began to turn away from him.  
  
He touched the spot in shock, "Did you just backhand me?"  
  
"Yes," she replied curtly, returning to rolling and cutting her dough. Her shoulders were shaking. She hadn't meant to hit him. That comforted him slightly. The thought haunted him and followed him into the bathroom where he dusted the flour off his cheek. What a hell-cat. Why was she so sensitive about that word? She'd taken being called a bitch among numerous other things with grace - in fact she'd said thank you on one occasion. But she slapped him for being called a slut. And it wasn't even always cursing!  
  
Two-Bit came in the door when Steve had reseated himself at the table, pouring over the classifieds. "Whoa, what happened to you, man?"  
  
Steve glanced at Cedar, tersely, "I got what I deserved."  
  
"Ow dude!"  
  
Slowly but surely everyone petered into the room at the smell of actual food not just some rendition thereof, serving only for function and generally not for taste. "This bread is -so- good," Two-Bit dug in and the other guys sighed. No bread for them?  
  
"I didn't know corn didn't always come in a can," Soda commented looking at the dish on the table. "never knew you could get it fresh..."  
  
"What're these called again?" Ponyboy inquired, shoving another egg in his mouth, hoarding a few more onto his plate.  
  
"Deviled eggs dumbo," Two-Bit said twaking him over the head. "Were you raised in a barn? And I know they'se hard to prepare... I tried once."  
  
"According to princess here, trying don't count," Steve informed them. The other guys just shrugged, their bellies getting fuller by the second, and continued to eat the dishes clean.  
  
*  
  
Sodapop Curtis heard a light tap on his window and hit his brother to wake him up. The kid oofed. Looking out at an anxious Cedar pacing, "Can I sleep on your couch? Door's locked... sorry..."  
  
"Yeah," Soda replied half asleep still as the two pulled her up and through the window. Things must have got awful bad. This was the first time she'd ever actually taken them up on the offer of a couch to sleep on when things in her house went sour. She just went in and crashed on the couch, groaning slightly. Life sucked. When Cedar woke up in the morning, she rolled off the couch in shock.  
  
Darry turned around in his towel and groaned, "Why doesn't anybody tell me when people are here?"  
  
"Um, I came in at three am."  
  
He returned to his room and found Cedar making herself useful in the kitchen. "You know what?" he said to her. "I'm gonna just let you do that."  
  
She laughed, "I'm sure."  
  
Steve barged through the door, obviously rattled. His hand was combing through his greasy hair repetitively and he had a cigarette he was smoking like nothing else. "I'll kill 'im someday... I swe- Hello Cedar."  
  
She looked away, reddening at the sight of his cheek. "Whoa what happened there buddy?" Darry asked, leaning back at one of the chairs at the table. Steve scowled.  
  
"I got slapped."  
  
"Someone slaps hard," Darry replied. His voice was serious but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes, glittering at prospects of his little brother's friend.  
  
"Yeah. She does," Steve's gaze was still leveled at Cedar and Darry just wondered what he'd done to piss her off. She never blew up at his little power antics, or Soda's idiot antics, or Ponyboy on his smart-aleck days. Just Steve got her razzed. And her step-dad.  
  
Darry continued thumbing through the paper, "Can I give ya a ride something this lovely mornin' which smells like actual cooking?'  
  
"Erm..." she bit her lip. "Debbie's on-"  
  
Both men stared at her. She bit her lip and looked down. Obviously they knew the name and she knew the reputation wasn't so hot. In fact, she hated working there and the rumors were for the most part true but she was desperate enough. She was blowing out of here never to return when she turned eighteen. She was hauling ass back to the rez. Darry just shook his head, "Okay."  
  
*  
  
Steve was actually having a good rest of the day once he ate a rather good breakfast. At work, his boss offered him a raise and it was good; anybody can use a raise to make their day brighter. After work, he dropped by the drugstore and bought a couple of packs of cigs to the last the next day, but what he saw crawling from the drugstore alley made him hit the brakes hard.  
  
"Cedar?" he asked getting out of the car. She didn't respond. "Cedar?"  
  
Finally when she realized he wouldn't go away, she looked up with tears welling in her defeated eyes. Her skin was nearly black and blue all over; her clothes were ripped and some of her was cut up bad. Real bad. Then she curled up again.  
  
"Cedar!" he dropped to his knees. "What happened?"  
  
"T-They came outt-t-ta kn-know-w-where," she stuttered.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"I dunno!" she sobbed. "They were driving T-birds."  
  
He cursed. "What'd they do to you?" he asked more tenderly, helping her sit up.  
  
"What does it look like?"  
  
"I got my mind reeling Cedar," he told her.  
  
"They raped me all right?" she cried.  
  
"No. Not alright," he stated firmly. "Can you get up?"  
  
"I dunno."  
  
"I'll help you," he said and gently took her waist as she sucked in a breath and stood. Throwing his coat, his leather one that he was so proud of - he saved for it for so long - tossing it over her shouldn't, he put an arm around her and ushered her to the car.  
  
Her body nearly collapsed in a heap of bones in his passenger's seat, wincing at every move she made. Her glazed gaze out the window unnerved him. "They were a buncha Socs," she stated.  
  
He looked at her again, pausing before turning the key, "Did they do it just to do it?"  
  
"No. They know you guys," she replied, still not looking at him.  
  
"Lay down and sleep sugar," he told her softly, as tears poured down from her eyes again. "I ain't gonna let 'em get you again. Ever."  
  
Somehow she was reassured by the one human being who seemed to hate her outside her family and laid down on his seat. Curled up by her worst opposition of the gang, she drifted off to sleep.  
  
.-*-.  
  
A.N. Wowee! That chappie was long! Remember to review! ^_^ 


	5. Chapter Five

Cutting Trees: Chapter Five  
  
  
  
"Holy shit!" Soda yelled as Steve carried in a bloody body, his voice hoarse with worry. "What happened?"  
  
Cedar moaned, shifting slightly as she awoke in Steve's arms and immediately regretting her movement. Steve's arms didn't even twitch, but his senses hit full blast when she shifted in closer with her eyes fluttering open on his collar; the one spot that got him every time right between his shoulder and heck.  
  
Darry came down the hall and his eyes bugged out of his head, and the way his veins were popping, he almost looked pissed. "C'mon put her down on my bed, since... sheets wash better 'n cushions..."  
  
"Do I look that bad?" she asked drearily.  
  
"And worse," Soda replied. She just groaned and fell back half-asleep in Steve's arms.  
  
"A couple of Socs decided to have a little fun, the disturbing thing is she says they did it 'cuz of one of us 'cuz they know one of us," Steve informed Darry more than Soda. Darry was the most responsible of all five of their little gang, so it was more useful to tell him than Soda. Unless you wanted something, then you asked Soda to ask.  
  
"Which one of us?" Darry demanded.  
  
"Didn't say. Where's Ponyboy?"  
  
"Dunno," Soda said with a shrug. "Oh yeah! Library, Two-Bit's getting him."  
  
"On a Monday? It's open to eight?"  
  
"I guess."  
  
Steve her down on Darry's bed. Sure it looked a little... peculiar carrying a beaten body with shards of clothes on into a bedroom, but it didn't matter that much he supposed. She groaned at the movement again  
  
"Cedar, can ya get up by yourself?" Soda inquired.  
  
"Yeah," she replied, cracking her eyes open. "I think."  
  
"Then take a shower, so we can get you cleaned up a little," Darry told her, softly, in the concerned older brother voice he tended to use on Ponyboy more than Soda.  
  
As soon as they all left, in one great giant movement she heaved herself up hissing at the pain. She wobbled to Darry's bathroom door, and felt slightly better as she stripped off her clothing that was for the most part in shreds, except for her under things. And they weren't even as mauled as her body.  
  
As soon as she stepped into the water in the shower, she nearly screamed. It hurt. So much, but only a muffled cry she let out. Steve winced in the front room at the exact same time.  
  
"I wanna know who it was," Darry paced the living room like a wolf configuring his attack on caribou. But which was the sick one? "Two-Bit or Ponyboy? Assuming you two haven't done anything to piss off a bunch of Socials lately."  
  
"I breathed," Steve snorted with dry humor looking blankly out into the littered street.  
  
"Nah. Haven't even tried to pick up their girls lately," Soda replied.  
  
Steve crooked the edge of one corner of his mouth, "No. I only pick fights with my old man-"  
  
"And Cedar," Soda added.  
  
"And Cedar."  
  
"Why would Ponyboy or Two-Bit pick a fight?" Soda wondered. "I can't see Pony doin' it."  
  
"Two-Bit's a prime suspect."  
  
"He is. Ask her."  
  
The shower stopped, and the three waiting impatiently in silence. Waiting. Once she appeared, Darry immediately blurted out his question, because if he hadn't he would have exploded. "Who did what to the Socs?"  
  
"I ain't sayin', because..." she trailed off. "I ain't sayin' 'cuz a' my valued trust."  
  
"Ponyboy," all three said at the same time rolling their heads back. Ponyboy? Picking a fight? Not only was it disturbing enough that a girl had been raped because of her alliance with them, but it was even more unsettling to realize it was Ponyboy who was picking the fight to cause her agony.  
  
She looked even more defeated, "How'd y'all know?"  
  
"You'd do anything and everything to protect him," Soda replied.  
  
"I ain't fair," she pouted easing herself down next to Steve and curling her legs beside herself. Darry's shirt fit more like a dress on an extremely short Cedar. "I'm gonna sleep now," she yawned curling up on Steve's shoulder.  
  
Soda elbowed Darry, who just looked amused and didn't even glance at his brother for awhile. Then both busied themselves with taking Darry's bloodied sheets off his bed and putting new one on.  
  
*  
  
Steve started to Soda getting huffy -at- Ponyboy. That was a rare occurrence if you ever saw one. Most times Soda never took sides, he mediated - typical middle child. Not like Cedar did, however, but lightened the mood between the two opposing parties. Cedar actually whipped 'em inline without raising her voice. But at the moment, Soda was just mad, he was pissed. "What did you do?"  
  
"Why do assume me? Do what?"  
  
"Cedar got jumped today by a group of Socs saying they know one of us. We narrowed it down to you, buddy-o. You!"  
  
Pony just scowled, "Narrowed it down? C'mon Soda. I wouldn't do nothing to get Cedar."  
  
"Well, ya didn't have to want Cedar somewhere. Ya did something to as Soc and he's getting revenge. When Socs jump our girls, buddy, they don't just beat the tar outta them either."  
  
"What did they do?"  
  
"Let your fifteen-year-old mind run wild," Soda shot back as Pony pushed through.  
  
Steve carefully lifted Cedar's still sleeping head and slipped a pillow under it. When had he fallen asleep? At any rate, when Soda and Pony argued it didn't ever go good. They argued so little that when they did, all the envy came out. It wasn't good.  
  
"What did you do?" Soda demanded yet again.  
  
"Do I have to send you two to your corners?" Cedar groaned from the couch and turned over to face the wall. "Soda ya ain't getting' anything in his head. Pony, your brother's pissed. When does he get pissed at you? Not often. Just eel him, he's just mad ya didn't tell him. Now shut-up or make- up!"  
  
Pony bit his lip, "Me 'n Curly went to the Nightly Double and I met a chick there and we've been doing stuff. A Soc chick."  
  
"Dontcha got Cedar?" Steve asked darkly. And he'd been worried about Cedar breaking a Curtis boy's heart!  
  
"We're just friends Steve," she said tiredly from the couch. "I help him with calculus I've done it."  
  
"Oh," Steve stated. There wasn't much else he could state. If he had been the type, his face would have been purple with embarrassment by now. But he wasn't just any old guy, this was Steve. Steve was an onion.  
  
"Yeah 'oh'," she snorted. "Ponyboy ya wanna that to your other brother too."  
  
"Ya okay, Cedar? Now I feel aw-"  
  
"Its okay kid, I forgive ya," she replied. "Excuse me, I'm going to crash on your bed, preferably your brother's though... its comfy." She walked slowly but surely down the hallway and knocked on Darry's door as uncomfortable silence ensued in the living room.  
  
"Its open!"  
  
She opened it and supported herself with the door frame, "Don't be too hard on your lil' brother."  
  
"You're just saying that because you're his friend."  
  
"No," she said entering wobbly and sat beside him on his bed. He was going through the court papers from over six months ago. "I'm saying that 'cuz I know a lot more than you do right now... Wouldn't you say?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Just give the question and let him talk it might not be as stupid as you think."  
  
"I never know anymore," he hung his head.  
  
"You're not supposed to know."  
  
"I'm not?"  
  
She smiled, "No. You're a twenty-one year old man that works two jobs and is trying to keep track of two teenagers."  
  
"Sometimes I wish I were just a brother again," he confided hanging his head. "That maybe I should let them be with some other guardian. Look how this is turning out."  
  
"No you don't," she told him softly.  
  
"I know, 'cuz I can't bear the thought of Soda being crushed or Pony having to go back to his normal grade."  
  
Her light fingers grazed his bent neck, and she rested a hand on his back. "Ponyboy sometimes forgets that you've done lots of this because you love him. Since you've had to make yourself become an adult guardian for him, you're like a father, but no quite. Hard place, ne?" He pursed his lips. At least he was like her father figure that wasn't nearly father. "Did you agree with your father at Ponyboy's age?"  
  
Darry laughed, "No."  
  
"Mmhmm," she said. "Just let him tell you. He may not have a whole of sense, but he's still smart and he's still got morals. Actually he's just growing up, but it's hard in tough spots."  
  
Darry laughed, "It's weird how this house always seems more pleasant when you're here to keep us sane."  
  
"Oh... all y'all have a soft side," she winked.  
  
"And I suppose you're still chiseling away at Steve's rock armor?"  
  
"Yeah... I haven't quite figured out where his open button is yet," she smiled even though it hurt. She was beginning to think Steve was like an onion, the more layers you peel the more hopeless it seemed to get into the core.  
  
"And you're counseling when you just got blooded up," he pointed out, patronizingly.  
  
"Well it makes me feel better," she argued. "To know the big strong men that protect me are at peace with each other."  
  
Darry laughed, "What're you back here for anyhow?"  
  
"I am looking to crash somewhere somewhat quiet to aide a throbbing headache."  
  
Darry gestured to the room and bowed out, "It's the furthest from the living room."  
  
"Thanks," she sighed.  
  
Before he shut the door, Darry added, "If you really want to get into Steve's layered armor... he's in a similar predicament as you." And he shut the door.  
  
.-*-.  
  
A.N.  
  
LOL! Steve! Like an onion! Yes I did take that from Shrek because... I was up watching it at three am with my friends last night! I couldn't help it... *sighs* Some things I just have to warp to my own weird ficcies. ^_^  
  
R & R! I love all you loverly peoples who do that! And I try and read one of your fics if you review... And if you've reviewed and I haven't reviewed any of yours yet... Either 1. I dunno what you're writing about 2. I haven't found time (2 is more likely!) KK...  
  
-Nezie-  
  
P.S. That was a long Author's Note! O.o?! (I'm REALLY over-tired, please excuse me!) Sorry about grammar / typos... you tell me, I fix! Honest to goodness! Unless they're purposeful... *beats self over head with stick* I'm shutting up now. 


	6. Chapter Six

Cutting Trees: Chapter Six  
  
Cedar rolled over in the Darrell Curtis' bed and thought about how precarious this would look if her step-father were to peek in the window just now. Out of a black eye, she squinted and swung out onto the floor. Darry's clock read four o'clock, the little minute handing lingering just past the one, which signaled 4:06 but it was close enough, she supposed, to call it four o'clock. Four o'clock in the morning. She hadn't slept very long. Five hours at most and it was already beginning to become light.  
  
Walking out into the living room to help with something in the very least. "Well, hello sleeping beauty," a voice greeted her sarcastically. "Aren't you lucky while the rest of us work our tails off all day?"  
  
"I wouldn't call myself lucky if that's what you mean, Steve," she snapped.  
  
He scowled looking out the window from his game of solitaire. He hated women like her. He hated women like her even more when they were right. "It's four o'clock in the afternoon pity you decided to join me."  
  
"Why aren't you at work?"  
  
He looked away, "I got fired."  
  
"You did what?" she looked at him like he was insane.  
  
"I got fired."  
  
"What did ya do? Mouth off to your boss?" she was being sarcastic, but when Steve only looking at her his gaze a leveling, she realized that -was- the reason he'd been fired and fried. "Oh." She sat next to him. "I heard you were the best mechanic around. Why would your boss want to get rid of you?"  
  
"Said somethin' about not needin' so much help anymore an' now Soda's all worried that he's gonna fire him too," Steve snorted. "Not in a million years. He jest' fired me 'cuz I only fix cars I don't haul in girls like Soda, and girls don't give a shit how fast they get serviced, or if there's a back-up... they're there for Soda gazin'." Steve shrugged again placing the queen of spades on the jack of spades in the stack. It really didn't bother him he'd been fired for his lack of looks to bring in customers, he wasn't changing anything about himself if he could help it. It was just a fact of life Soda picked up girl after girl after girl. He wouldn't want a woman chasing him for his looks anyhow. He'd seen some pretty unusual lengths some girls would go to just to buy a tank of gas. "Ain't no big deal, already found a couple stations that need a mechanic, won't pay half as good. I jest' don't look as good as Soda."  
  
She crossed her arms as she sat down, "I don't think so."  
  
Steve's head shot up to look at her, "Don't even try and make me feel better, sister, it ain't flyin'."  
  
"Why would I try to make you feel better Steve Randle?" she smirked and took a swig of her Coke. "And I try not to lie, the truth is more fun. Especially with you."  
  
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"  
  
"I dunno," she shrugged. "'Cuz I can't figure you out."  
  
"You can't 'figure' me out?" he cocked an eyebrow like Two-Bit. Took him a whole summer to learn to do such, but in the end he thought it was worth it. It was a bit unexpected from him, and he liked that. Somehow he liked to believe he was still human in all this mess.  
  
She kicked her feet up onto his knee for a foot-rest, "Nope."  
  
Once again, she removed the cigarette from his mouth taking a drag. It grinded rough, irritating sand against Steve's conscience. "Why do you always do that?" he snapped.  
  
"Do what?" she inquired.  
  
"Take whatever I'm smoking, eating, drinking take a piece of it or smoke it then give it back!" he raved.  
  
"You really want to know?" she inquired, leaning closer to him.  
  
He leaned in to meet her nose to nose. She was so close it would take just a few more inches and he could conquer that smirking, sarcastic mouth of hers. And when he connected with her dark brown eyes he couldn't help but stare into them, he wanted to be lost in them. At the moment, he was finding no excuse to even try and escape their black abyss. Did he really want to know? "Yes."  
  
"Because," she stood and the trance was gone. She leaned into an ear, like some sort of vixen walking Sutton street. "You make it taste better."  
  
His eyes widened to swallow his face and he looked around at her as she walked down the hallway to the bathroom. With no one in the room left to make a smirk remark to, Steve made an estranged face, astonished and admonishing, asked the air, "I make it -taste- better?"  
  
*  
  
Ponyboy raised his eyebrows at his brother's best friend and his most faithful editor when he got home from school. Normally Steve and Cedar would have been vocally abusing each other by now, but they were silent. Stoic. He found all of this very amusing. As a fact he knew his new friend found Steve severely attractive, even more so than his own brother.  
  
Exactly how Steve attracted her, Pony did not know. The guy was tall and he had mean eyes. He was too rough for a girl like Cedar, who enjoyed everything that she could see beauty in. So how did she see some kind of dashing handsomeness in Steve? He was a complete ass to her, at least Pony thought they should try and be cordial.  
  
Shrugging the fifteen-year-old opened the fridge and took a chug of the milk. Friday. It was good it was Friday. "Hey would y'all tell Darry I went to the Nightly Double."  
  
Cedar nodded from behind her book and waved him out the door. They sat in further silence until she felt eyes watching her, or rather over her shoulder. She turned her head back to Steve who was reading her book. "Would you get your nose out of my book? Its mine!"  
  
"Naw, it says Tulsa Public Library, sleeping beauty, it's the city of Tulsa's. And as far as I know, since I turned eighteen I've been a citizen of Tulsa. You on the other hand..."  
  
"Get away from me Steve."  
  
"Why?"  
  
She sputtered in her response, "Because you probably can't even read it anyway! And what do you appreciate about books, about art... anyway?!"  
  
"Maybe I appreciate it more than you think," he said as she stood to face him. It was a challenge, it was always was. They were always challenging each other to some sort of danger or another. "When have you really asked me a question worth anything Cedar?"  
  
She looked around in his eyes and for once found a half-sincerity. It was still laced with sarcasm to taunt her, as if she were insignificant for never inquiring. "You wouldn't answer me if I did!"  
  
"Maybe I would."  
  
"I don't believe you."  
  
"Then don't blame me sister."  
  
"I ain't your sister."  
  
"I know you ain't. Its an expression, sweetheart."  
  
"And I ain't that either! Quit it with your expressions!" she raved at a hiss. "Do you just like making me go off like this? And I have had a decent conversation with you! And I've asked you a question worth answering... Nevermind it wasn't a question!"  
  
Steve clenched his jaw. "Why d'ya like to get me uppity with your uppity- ness?"  
  
"You do it yourself and drag me along for the ride!" she fumed, walking into the kitchen, throwing out eggs and sausage. "Quit following me."  
  
"Its no more your house than it is mine, sugar," he only used it because he knew she hated it the very most of any of his names for her, which were sheer sarcasm in themselves.  
  
She turned around from the cupboard and he had two hands on each side of the linoleum counter. Her figure stood stark still and he could feel her heart beating faster. She was scared of him... that's what it looked like at any rate. Trapped by his body, Cedar could feel the heat in her body rising and tears too for something she knew she could never have, only because he'd never have her. And even if he would have had her, society would look down on it. Even people in the West looked down upon it, and this was Oklahoma for God's sake. It would be worse, no doubt. He was white. She was Navajo. Things like this just didn't work. She wanted it to work, but it never would. They just couldn't get along. It was plain and simple.  
  
"Steve. Move," her plump lip quivered.  
  
"Why are you so interested in my life all of a sudden?"  
  
.-*-.  
  
A.N. Hee-hee. I have to go play with my dogs. So close but no cigar. ^_^ I think I'll wrap it up in the next three chapters... maybe! R & R! Ja ne! 


	7. Chapter Seven

Note from Nezie Sorry so long to update! *pleads for your holy forgiveness*  
  
Cutting Trees: Chapter Seven  
  
"Interested in your life?" she asked, stunned speechless at the mere proximity of his tall frame. "I'm not suddenly taking interest in your life."  
  
"Yes you are."  
  
"What are you talking about?" she smiled weakly pressing herself further back into the corner, as he leaned an increment forward.  
  
He made a sour face, "I'm not completely deaf. I heard you and Darry talking about me last night. And I don't stink like an onion, not nearly as much. I try -not- to make people cry."  
  
"Well, it doesn't work," she replied, before biting her lip and nearly putting her head through the wall. Why did she have to have that automatic response? She didn't want to have to explain sleepless nights of laying in her bed at a home, that really didn't seem like a home, wondering, wishing, and dreaming about him. It was too complicated, all too complicated. But she could still bite his head off when she came face to face with him. The truth is she didn't know how to love anymore and for some reason, Steve made her want to love again but she didn't know how to regain the talent. It angered her that one boy could rattle her cage so much.  
  
"Are you implying that I make you cry?" he asked dubiously.  
  
"Uh... no."  
  
"Uh...?" he inquired.  
  
"Let me go Steve," she shied her eyes away from him. Her battered eyes and bruises and cuts down her neck almost repulsed him.  
  
She looked as bad as Johnny had that one time he got jumped, and you could probably say that was the reason for the whole ordeal almost a year ago. If Johnny hadn't got jumped in the first place by those Socials, then he wouldn't have carried a switchblade, and he wouldn't have killed that Soc. And Dally wouldn't be dead. The Curtises wouldn't be surveyed so goddamn much by those social workers and the entire gang would be a lot better off mental health wise.  
  
"I ain't holding you, sugar," he informed her in a voice she'd never heard him speak in. "This is holding you." He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to himself. He felt her entire back tense, and it wasn't only from probably the slight pain he might be causing her. The heartbeat in which had been beating faster a minute ago, now raced like a thoroughbred, but she had the temperament of an Arabian.  
  
Her eyes flashed everywhere in the room, but into his and she made a slight squirm to get away. "Steve - "  
  
"What?"  
  
"You should let me go."  
  
"I should, but I don't know if I can. Why don't you look at me?" he challenged softly and just as he suspected she would, she did - she looked him right in his dark eyes.  
  
One moment and a second later he gently pressed his lips against hers, unexpectedly, she did not squirm or push him away, and she didn't slap him. Her arms pinned up against his chest, just seeped up and around his neck and kissed him back. He didn't want to let go, once he started and then he couldn't stop. More alluring than any sort of alcohol, more alluring than any drug; he could see how some men lived off this sort of life. Kissing just one girl that would always kiss them back, some respectable girl that wasn't running around. He could see how a man could get tied down emotionally and go into deterioration. Now that her little red ruby lips greeted him full-hearted and he could smell Evening In Paris on her neck, now that he was immersed in heaven, he couldn't stand not having her.  
  
*  
  
Ponyboy Curtis, with his arm draped over Louise Summers, was not enjoying his evening. The entire situation was perilous as it was, and a greaser attending Rusty's didn't go so well. What was more, it had cleaned out his wallet for an entire week. Maybe a Soc could afford this place, but a greaser sure as hell couldn't; and Pony's pride wouldn't let Lou pay for the both of them.  
  
A scent he'd known since he was a little kid and Darry got into grade school hit Ponyboy's nose. Before he even turned to check to see that it was indeed him, Ponyboy snapped, "Leave us alone Two-Bit."  
  
"Us?" Two-Bit mused. "Us? Which us? 'Cuz ya can't being going out with Miz Socie, here."  
  
"Get outta here," Pony turned around and faced his friend. "You pointing us out isn't going to help anyone's physical or mental health now is it?"  
  
"Does this little lady know she got Cedar all busted up by her bodyguards?" Two-Bit sneered leaning into the girl, who was ignoring them and watching the movie up until this point.  
  
"I did hear about that, but I have no control over what my brother and his friends try to do, more than I have over you," she sniggered.  
  
Pony grabbed her around the shoulders, "C'mon Lou. Lets go. We'll catch it another night, since Two-Bit's got his eye on a fight with anyone."  
  
"Whatever, man, you want me to leave you to your cool, I will," Two-Bit put up his arms. "Since ya probably cleaned out your wallet by getting in here the legal like way, I'll let you enjoy your movie. Just know I warned you that you're getting in deep shit. It doesn't matter how nice Miz Lou is here, her social class -does- matter Pony, wise up. Because if it doesn't matter to prissy pants, it matters to her posse." Two-Bit looked both ways, and leapt the fence.  
  
His jaw set Ponyboy sat back in his seat, with an arm replacing it around Lou's. Then he felt the cold death grip on his shoulder.  
  
.-*-.  
  
A.N. Too short? Too long? I can't remember! Aagh! Anyway, I don't know how I'm tying Ponyboy and Lou with Cedar and Steve, but hey, it's the fic world. The fic is my master and I do what the little writer-pokers with pitchforks say. ^.^ 


	8. Chapter Eight

Note: All I can really say is that I'm sorry. All I can do is beg for your forgiveness.

Cutting Trees: Chapter Eight

"You know this is illogical?"

Steve looked down at her. The way she was looking at him, was it really that illogical? Of course it was illogical, but did she really believe that they couldn't make illogical work? Would he have to convince her? He didn't know how good at convincing he'd be, considering he flunked out of school. Mostly for work, but that was beside the point.

The whites of her eyes, and the creases said that she didn't believe her own statement. She wanted him to tell her she was wrong, she wanted to argue with him – give her an excuse right? No way in Hell. He wasn't giving this up; he couldn't give this up now that he'd tasted it. Felt it.

"Yes," he pursed his lips. "But nothing is impossible."

Those pearly reds, now slightly dulled unlike her face which had pinkened, opened as if to protest, but nearly as quickly as she'd opened them – she shut them again. Once again, her lips parted, but instead of watching her close them again, Steve pulled her up for another kiss. It was a bad idea. How could it not be? But on the same token, how could it not be a good idea?

As with Cedar, Steve was beginning to think there was no clear cut right and wrong. There was no good and evil – all of it was relative. Relative truth, right? He'd fallen asleep that day in English class.

Of course, she didn't object – in fact, if anything her body and gut reaction agreed to pull herself closer to him. Her soul wouldn't let her deny herself this privilege, this pleasure; after all, the devil's advocate – or was it the angel? – drilled her. Didn't she deserve after her hell? This Hell that had been created for her on Earth, wasn't it enough to at least qualify for a few indulgent kisses?

"Cedar," he murmured quietly on her lips. Miniscule waves that reverberated in massive vibrations down her spine; how could he do that to her? Nonetheless, her bones shook their approval. "You're not pushing me away."

"I know," her cast down eyes looked up to him and he smiled.

The door slammed open and they both jumped. "Apologies to ruin your perfectly romantic liaison, Romeo and Juliet," Ponyboy snickered in a quite bitter, and fake, French accent. As he proceeded to thunder into the room he shared with Soda, he not only managed to askew every loose object on the counters of the house – he also managed to grab a beer out of the refrigerator. Not a Ponyboy thing to do. "I'm gonna kill that sonbitch," he grumbled, and capped it off before slamming his door with a definitive bang. "Maybe I'll take to smoking fuckin' weed! That'll piss 'im off! Fucker..."

The two stared at each other and Steve raised his eyebrows, but Cedar's eyes were conflicted. "If you want to go see what's up, go see what's wrong with Pony," he sighed and backed away.

She grabbed his shirt. "I-I-I don't! I mean, I do, but I'd rather... Oh of course this is coming out wrong... Of course, of course, of course!" She stamped her foot, irately, and looked at him again. And furthermore, she was intent at looking him –_and_- seeing him

'_If you really want to get into Steve's layered armor... he's in a similar predicament as you.'_

When had Steve's eyes become so tortured? She'd never seen them any differently; it was as if they longed for something they couldn't have and the fact that couldn't have that nearly drove them mad. Steve's eyes. Maybe Steve himself too. Wasn't Steve how she was able to find refuge in this house? The caring eyes, more like empathetic when she tried to fly out of her house that night, but seemed inevitably chained to unhappiness; weren't those his? A weighted brown.

He needed a vacation.

"You hurtin', sugar?" he asked softly, referring to the swelling on her skin. What was it about the damn grease, cigarette smoke, car oil, and cheap cologne that made her want to dive off a cliff and not be able to feel a thing? The whiff of just the right combination, she let it seep into her nose... her skin... every pore and orifice of her body until she could feel him running through her like a tide washing in and out. She hoped to God it never was a low tide, nor that the water just up and dried up.

"A little. Not so much as I will tomorrow," Cedar shook her head shyly, playing with the hem. They should be talking about Ponyboy – Ponyboy, who despite his rather traumatically dramatic experiences did not do the things they had just witnessed. Especially not after meeting Louise Summers. Did that visionary blow his boat, Cedar remarked. A complete feminist.

Steve leaned back on the counter, his mouth twitching for more. "You thinkin' we should investigate this whole Pony business too?" Steve didn't really ask that many questions of her, he did not ask a question that he didn't know the answer to. That wasn't to say he wasn't completely clueless sometimes, but most times he was just proving his points. Most of the time it annoyed the piss out of Cedar, but not today. Cedar's lips didn't feel like they should be doing so much talking. "Who's the chick?"

"Louise Summers," Cedar told him and leaned up against the counter beside Steve.

"Oh yes? And who is this Louise Summers?"

"When'd you start taking such an interest in Ponyboy's life?"

Steve grinned, mischievously. She should have guessed the next thing to come from his mouth, "You know the last time I got into a conversation about who got interested in who's life, I ended up kissing the opposing party. Do you really want me to go find Ponyboy?" His wink, on any other day, would have made her throw something at him, but today – her lips fell into an easy smile. "Oh, hell, I thought it was pretty funny."

She shook her head with a gentle snort, "Of course you did. You made the joke."

-Wipe the grin off your face, - Steve ordered of himself but it was no use. Looking down to the side of him wasn't much use either. Ignoring the noise of Pony slamming around in his room like he was winning the Cold War, he pulled her up again. "I think I'd better stop kissing you, Cedar."

"Oh?" she sounded worried, her eyes sad. "Why?"

"The more I kiss you, the more I want to keep kissing you," he mumbled and tipped her chin up for her lips.

Once again, the door creaked open on its hinges and there staring at the two of them and then at the door of the room was Darren Curtis. "I go away for a few hours for a job. I come back and I miss a helluva lot...

"What in God's name is going on here?"

.--.

Author's Note

1)st off, anybody who is still reading this fic deserves a medal for a marathon.

2) I hope you'll excuse typos, etc. I felt inspired (I hadn't felt inspired for about a year...) and so I figured it was better to punch out another chapter while I was inspired than try to do it tomorrow. (For this I'll be sleeping 2 hrs, and getting up at 4 am to do homework. Groan. My own fault...)

3) I beg your mercy for such a long period between updates.

4) Reviews please! I finally think I remembered my idea! (muwahahaha)

::grovels at your feet::


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